ArcelorMittal South Africa has secured a R4.5 billion revolving credit facility to finance its working capital requirements, the firm said on Wednesday.

The steelmaker, a unit of ArcelorMittal, has had to cut costs after a drop in steel sales, and has long complained that cheap imports eat into its market.

“…a revolving structured commodity trade finance facility has now been concluded by ArcelorMittal South Africa and its subsidiary, Saldanha Steel with Deutsche Bank, Absa Bank (Barclays Africa Group) and other lenders,” said Chief Executive Wim de Klerk in a statement.

South Africa last month said it plans to put emergency “safeguard” tariffs on imports of certain flat hot-rolled steel products from July after domestic production had suffered serious damage from an unforeseen surge in imports.

The tariff would be in place for three years, and fall from 12% in the first year to 10 percent in the second year and 8% in the third, South Africa said in a filing to the World Trade Organisation.

ArcelorMittal South Africa said the R4.5 billion facility will have a 36-month tenor.